Charta
by Ancient85
Summary: Penny Williams has always felt awkward in her own skin. One fateful night she learns that there is much more to her feelings of awkwardness then she could have ever imagine.
1. Beginnings

The sun had long since set over the small New England port. The silence in the air was cut by a chilling scream for help.

A cry that would go unanswered. Her capturer had planned this in advance. For weeks in fact. Everyone was down at the bar enjoying the free drinks courtesy of the vile creature holding the woman hostage.

The woman was pinned to a large metal examining table with thick steel chains. It had only been a few minutes since she woke from her drug-induced slumber and she was still struggling to regain her senses.

Her throat was sore from screaming, but she still managed to mumble.

"I hate Valentine's Day"

"Something we have in common."

"You're nuts. You sick psychopath."

He turned from what he was doing to backhand her across the face.

"Shut your trap and let me finish. No one's gonna save you."

She struggles against the restraints when an idea entered her dazed mind. It would probably get her killed faster, but hey, she would die anyway so what would it matter?

"Why don't you remove these chains and we can revisit that conversation over silk sheets back at your place?"

"Nice try, counselor. Enticing offer, but no second chances."

"You piece of pond scum. Let me out of these chains! You'll be so sorry!"

He chuckles watching her struggle against the chains.

"And out comes the gutter trash I knew was in there somewhere. No law school education can erase that."

He grabs her black briefcase and lays it on his small work table to examine its contents.

"You claim to be an excellent attorney and yet no juicy files in here to entertain me with."

"Come over here and I'll show you entertainment. You vile disgusting creature."

Ignoring her comments he continues his previous task of sharpening the blade and various experimentation tools.

_This will be very gratifying experience…_

"…For at least one of us." He says with a sadistic laugh.

'So much for working at D.A. Dawson's office this summer.' she mumbles under her breathe.

* * *

It was Logan's last night away from the mansion. He wanted to unwind a bit before venturing into the mansion where teenage hormones and crazy antics ran rampant.

He hated the teenage years more so since he can't remember when he was a teenager. Nonetheless teenage hormones were what really bothered him. He often had to separate teenagers when things got too…um heated.

Good thing Rogue was no longer a teenager. Not that in the years since he found her hiding in his trailer had that ever been a significant problem for him.

It was in the middle of his musings that his enhanced hearing picked up on a woman screams.

He unsheathes his claws and runs towards the screams.

* * *

She continues to scream as the knife cuts into her flesh. His maniacal laughter reverberates around the small wooden equipment shed.

"Please stop!"

"Why don't you just shut up and die already?" He yells "And what the hell is this?"

He pulls back flakes of skin only to have it crumble in his hands. He looks down to where he has cut to find no evidence of the gashes he made only moments ago.

"What are you some kind of freak?"

"Please let me go!"

"Don't beg. You being a mutant freak will only intensify my gratification when I finally complete my examination."

She balls her hands into fists as the knife penetrates her skin again.

The man's maniacal laughter is momentarily silenced by a lone sheet of paper swaying back and forth to land on the woman's stomach.

His eyes grow wide when the paper is absorbed into her skin.

"What the hell are you?"

* * *

Logan bursts through the door of the small shed.

He finds a man slumped over a metal table with blood oozing out of various gashes all over his body.

A woman is struggling against the chains with a look of horror on her face.

Logan removes the chains from her wrists and ankles.

"You hurt?" Logan asks noticing blood on various tools.

"No. Not really."

Logan helps her off the table.

"I can take you somewhere safe, kid."

"Anywhere but here would be great…"

"Logan. The name's Logan."

"Thanks, Logan. I think this is about the worst Valentine's Day ever."

"No kidding." Logan says with a smirk.

**That's all for now. I got the idea for the first part of this chapter/story trying to go to sleep one night. Funny how when I can't sleep I come up with something to write. I like to send a special thanks to Alchemist of Genesis for helping me put together this character as well as this chapter. You rock, Bro! Have a Happy Valentine's Day and don't forget to review.**

**Until Next Time,**

**Ancient 85**


	2. Introductions & Reunions

It was well into the night when the cab made it to the mansion with Logan riding alongside. Penny refused to get on Logan's motorcycle so he was forced to call a cab for her. Penny stepped off the cab and handed the driver a hundred dollar bill before Logan could take out his wallet.

"Fare's no more than twenty" The driver speeds off before Penny could reconsider.

"Was all I had." Penny says rubbing her arms to ward off the cold.

"Here we are…Xavier's School for the Gifted."

"Gifted? Nice."

Penny looked up at the large almost castle-like mansion before her. Very few times in her life had she had the opportunity or pleasure to bask in the glow of a gorgeous mansion. This was not one of those times. It wasn't that the mansion before her was hideous. On the contrary, it was remarkably beautiful. One of the most gorgeous and exquisite mansions she has ever seen. Her mind was occupied with what had transpired a few hours ago.

Logan had called ahead letting Ororo know he was coming so it was no surprise that she was the one to immediately open the door when he hit the buzzer.

"Logan, I was surprise to hear you were coming earl…" Ororo stops, taking notice of the woman standing behind him.

"You brought a guest?"

"We ran into trouble." Logan answers.

"Come in, come in." Quickly ushering them in while taking in the somewhat disheveled appearance of the young woman.

Penny trails behind Logan and Ororo visually surveying her new surroundings. Her father used to tell her one's character is most often displayed in the interior of one's home. The exterior always fools the superficial one.

"Found her strapped to the table. The guy was dead. She hasn't said much."

"Oh my! Are you okay, child?" Ororo asks turning to the young woman.

"I'm fine." Penny says rather quickly.

"Well, I can show you to one of our guest rooms and we can sort this out in the morning."

"Thank you, Ororo." Ororo's eyes widen at the mention of her name. "I overheard Logan's conversation. I figured you must have been the one he was talking to."

"Oh."

"Logan!" Rogue greets the Canadian from the Rec Room doorway.

"Hey, kid. Couldn't sleep?"

"Huge paper due."

"Seems like our Rogue waited til the last minute to do it." Ororo says.

"Ah work better under pressure."

Rogue spots the new arrival. "The road get lonely, Logan?"

"Trouble."

"Ah guessed as much." Rogue looks at Penny curiously. "Name's Rogue."

Penny comes out of her musings. "Penny."

"Interesting tattoo ya got there on your arm." Penny looks at her quizzically.

"I don't have a…" Penny gasps at the sight of her law firm's insignia etched into her arm. "Its happening again." Penny pulls at the skin around the 'tattoo' to reveal a business card. Her business card. She moves the card between her fingers before stuffing it into her coat pocket.

"You're a mutant."

* * *

The sun shone brightly through the peach-colored curtains. It would be enough to wake just about anybody…Penny, however, was not awaken by the sun's rays. She had yet to sleep a wink.

Penny sat on the plush queen bed staring at the flower patterns on the wall. Her back against the head board and knees held tightly to her chest. The events of last night still fresh in her mind.

_What did I do?_

His slumped form. His slumped _bloodied _form on the cool metal table.

_It was self-defense. She's seen hundreds of cases like this. She's successfully defended clients in cases like this._

Her mind wanders back to the time she discovered her powers.

"_Alright class I want you to get with your lab partner and go over the notes for the test_

_Penny briefly glances at her cute lab partner before looking back at her professor. He was the hottest guy in her class. His eyes, the deepest blue and golden locks made him to die for. Who could blame her for harboring a little crush on the golden, blue-eyed dream?_

"_I will come by each group in a few minutes to commence with the verbal portion of the test."_

_His eyes caught hers. They share a smile._

"_I missed a couple of things he said before. Can I look at your notes?"_

"_Yeah sure." Penny hands over her notebook._

"_Very funny, Penny. Where are the real notes?"_

_Penny looks at him confused. She takes the notebook she was sure was filled with her class notes. She looks through the pages. Nothing. Entirely blank._

_It is then that she notices ink on her palms and forearms. Not just ink but words. Upon closer inspection she realizes the words written on her skin are in fact her science notes._

_She backs away from the table knocking over the stool she was sitting on in the process._

"_You okay?" Her lab partner asks clearly concerned by her actions. He reaches for her hand._

_Sheets of notebook paper appear to explode out of her hands and scatter around them._

_Penny storms out of the classroom leaving a very confused and worried lab partner behind._

Penny sighs at the memory. She remembers begging her father to get her transferred to another school that same afternoon.

"_Don't be silly, honey. Just because you got embarrassed in front of a boy doesn't mean you got to switch schools."_

"_Its not just that. I'm a freak." A fire ignites her father's eyes._

"_No girl of mine is a freak." He says touching the side of her cheek._

"_But I…" Penny looks to the ground trying to find the words to explain what really happened._

_He grabs a single welted rose from the vase on the shelf. He lifts her chin with a single finger bringing her brown eyes to meet his hazel ones._

"_I said no girl of mine is a freak." He raises the rose to his lips and blows on the petals. One by one the petals return to their original hue._

"_How?" Penny asks in amazement._

"_You are gifted my dear Persephone. Don't ever let anyone call you a freak. May it never escape your lips when speaking of yourself."_

"_Yes, Father."_

"_That's my girl."_

If only her dad know she was a murderer. Would he feel the same? Would the word 'freak' leave his lips?

"You are awake I see." Penny looks up to see Ororo in the doorway. "I noticed you didn't have anything with you. So I took it upon myself to bring you these clothes. Jean was about your size."

"She won't mind?"

"She died not too long ago."

"I'm sorry."

"It is quite alright." Ororo says handing Penny the clothes.

"Wait a minute…Jean as in Dr. Jean Grey."

"Yes."

"She once spoke against the Mutant Registration Act."

"Jean made it her personal mission to speak against it." Ororo recalls warmly. Penny smiles at the woman's statement. "I will leave you to so that you may change."

"Thank you I appreciate it."

* * *

"Ah said no, Cajun."

Rogue heads to her room with the smooth talking Cajun trailing behind.

"How you say no without trying it?"

"Easy…No." Rogue stops in front of her door and turns to him. "Why don' ya go chase Tabitha or somethin' don't change your plans on my account."

"Aw, da lil River rat is jealous." He says with a cocky grin on his face.

"Ah wouldn' touch you with a ten foot pole, Swamp rat." Rogue says poking him in the chest.

Remy pulls her to him catching Rogue off guard.

"Serves you right if ah did touch you." Rogue says wiggling in his grasp.

"Remy be happy to oblige." Remy says before adding, "Still Remy wonders why you protest so much and aren't trying very hard to leave his arms."

Rogue opens her mouth to retort then closes it not finding, well…an excuse.

"Just what Remy thought."

"Ugh, your so…so infuriatingly…"

"…Handsome." Remy supplied. Rogue pushes against him, sending the cocky Cajun sliding across the room.

"Keep ya hands to yourself ya dirty Swamp Rat."

"Dat be impossible, Chere. Remy be bedazzled by your beauty."

Rogue lets out a hearty laugh. Remy pouts.

"Bedazzled? You been watching the craft channel again haven't ya."

"You wound this poor Cajun." Remy says feigning hurt with a hand to his heart. "And yes it is one of my guilty pleasures. You still be Remy's number one though, Chere."

"Don't you ever stop?"

"Remy wouldn't be Remy if he did."

* * *

Penny is rounding the corner when she runs into something…or rather a well-formed someone. Her eyes trail up a well toned body to meet gorgeous blue eyes. _Warren._

"Well if it isn't Penny looking all nice and beautiful."

"Warren, what are you doing here?"

"Visiting. Didn't know you'd be here. If I knew I would have brought a dozen roses for you." Penny playfully smacks his arm.

"Charmer. I missed you."

"I missed you, too." Warren pulls her into a warm embrace.

"Whoa. I guess you, like, already met Penny." Kitty says shyly.

"We've known each other since private school." Warren says facing the student. Penny's hand firmly in his.

"Small world, huh?"

* * *

Warren led Penny through the mansion to one of his favorite spots - the library balcony.

"Is this where you take all your girls?"

"Didn't know you wanted to be my girl." Warren says with a smirk. "It will break a few hearts if that's the case."

Penny jabs his arm playfully.

"You are so full of yourself, Warren."

"I only speak the truth." he says with a cocky smirk.

"Yeah the truth, right."

"Seriously. You haven't told me what you're doing here at Xavier's."

Penny turns her back to him and sighs. She leans against the balcony railing and takes in the view of the mansion grounds.

A few teenagers were running across the yard chasing each other with water pistols and the occasional gusts of water from the mansion's water-manipulating youths.

"I ran into trouble. Logan found me, brought me here."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble? Are you okay?" Concern etched into his features.

"I killed him." Warren's eyes widen at her admission.

"Killed him? What happened? Sit here." Warren says motioning to two plush chairs nearby.

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours until Penny gathered the courage to recount the terrible tale.

"I…I went to the bar alone after work…stupid huh." Warren stayed silent, allowing her to continue.

"Some guy offered to buy me a drink. I didn't say no. One harmless drink, right? Well that harmless drink had me spinning a while later."

"When I came to I was chained to a metal table with that man over me. And…" Warren pulled her into a hug just she felt her resolve slipping.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. He won't hurt you anymore. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I killed him, Warren."

"You were defending yourself. No one can blame you for that."

"I blame myself." Penny looks up to meet his beautiful blue eyes. Her eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Don't you dare. He was a monster. I would have killed him myself." He gingerly touches her cheek.

"Well, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The pair turn to see a white clad beauty standing in the balcony doorway.

"Well…we.."

"No, nothing at all." Penny interrupts. Emma Frost walks to Warren and hooks her arm around his.

"When did you get in town?"

"Last night. Didn't think you be here, Emma." Penny says forcing a smile.

"I am here to pick up Warren for our date."

Penny raises a eyebrow at that.

"Its only lunch. Want to come along?" Warren offers. Penny looks to Emma before turning back to Warren.

"No its fine. I suddenly feel a headache coming on. You go. Its fine. We'll talk later." She looks to Emma.

Penny gives Warren's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go.

Emma leads Warren out of the balcony, but not before sending Penny a telepathic message.

_Stay Away_

Penny tried her best to remain her composure until she was sure Warren was out of hearing distance.

"Make me." She says clenching her fists.

"Storm's gonna kill me!" came a voice from inside the library.

Penny enters the library to find the girl from last night frantically searching for something amidst the mess of papers on the floor.

"Rogue, is it?" Rogue looks up from the mess.

"Yeah. Ah'm in so much trouble." Rogue says continuing her search. "Lost my paper in this heap. So dead."

"So this must be yours." Penny says handing her some papers.

"Yes! Thanks!" Rogue clutches the papers, not wanting to let them out of her sight. "Where did ya find them?"

A few blank sheets of paper appear out of the palm of her hand.

"Kind of my fault."

"Oh."

"I sometimes have trouble controlling it." Penny sets aside the blank sheets of paper. "Especially when I get…"

"Angry?"

"Yeah." Penny glances at Rogue's elbow length gloves. "So what can you do? What's your gift."

"Ah absorb powers and memories of people I touch. Can't control it. Not really a gift."

"A gift isn't always wrapped in a neat little bow. Its up to you to get it there." Penny takes note of the look on her face. "My mother is the queen of quotes. Incidentally, she helped me gain control."

"How?"

"By letting go." Penny continues, noticing the look of confusion. "Of my emotions. She's an empath."

"Would it…could it work on anyone?"

"I'm not sure." Rogue's hopeful expression fell. "Doesn't mean it can't though."

"Can ah ask ya something?"

"Sure."

"How long did it take you before you got control?"

"Not very long."

"Rogue!" She turns to the doorway to see Kitty. "Class is starting. Ms. Monroe locks the doors when she starts."

"Ah'm coming!" Rogue turns to Penny. "Don't know why she's worried. The girl can walk through walls."

Penny laughs.

"Look Rogue. I may be able to help you. I can't promise anything."

"Ah understand."

* * *

The wind was blowing softly as Penny ventured through the mansion's grounds. She fiddled with a business card along the way, occasionally letting the card seep into her skin and out in a smooth fluid rhythm. Her thoughts trailed to the emergence of Emma Frost into her life once again.

Emma Frost made known her distaste and contempt early on in their relationship. Penny was always far too close to the dashing and handsome Warren Worthington III. A fact that rubbed Emma the wrong way.

Penny's icy encounters with the white clad beauty diminished around the same time she lost touch with Warren.

"Watch out!" Someone in the distance yelled in warning.

Penny caught the ball without looking as it hurdled toward her face. She tossed it back as she continued her trek across the grounds while still deep in thought.

She remembered the conversation she had with Rogue shortly before she embarked on this particular adventure. Penny thought back to the day she gained control over her abilities.

"_This is impossible, Mom!" A younger Penny exclaimed._

"_Hush and concentrate. Nothing is impossible." Her mother said closing her eyes in concentration._

_Penny looked down at the pile of newspapers on the desk in front of her._

"_I want you to hand me the second newspaper without moving the others."_

_Penny let out a sigh before closing her eyes and place a hand over the pile._

_She removed it a few seconds later. _

"_Ok now open your eyes. Palms up." _

_Penny opens her eyes and calls forth the paper. The paper rises out of her palms. The second paper in the pile._

"_Excellent! I knew you could do it." Penny smiled._

"_Thanks to you. I couldn't do it without you controlling my emotions."_

"_Actually you did all by yourself this time." Her mother said with a smile._

"_What?"_

"_I was busy keeping your father and uncle from tearing each other apart. It was all you, honey."_

Penny wishes her mother was with her now and not clear across the country. She could use her wisdom right about now.

**That's all for now. This chapter has been long overdue. Don't forget to leave a review or comment before you venture onto other stories. Tell me what you think about this story so far. **

**Until Next Time,  
**

**Ancient 85  
**


End file.
